Obama Said to Order Arming Syrian Rebels Amid Setbacks

A picture shows an underground bunker used by rebel fighters in the village of Western Dumayna, some seven kilometers north of the city of Al-Qusair, on May 13, 2013. Photographer: Joseph Eid/AFP via Getty Images

June 14 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. will provide small arms and
ammunition to the Syrian opposition amid recent battlefield
setbacks by rebels and after saying it confirmed that Bashar al-Assad’s forces used chemical weapons in the civil war.

President Barack Obama is authorizing lethal military aid
to rebel groups under a classified order instructing the Central
Intelligence Agency to arrange delivery of the weapons,
according to a U.S. official familiar with the decision who
asked not to be identified discussing the move.

Obama’s calculus on Syria has shifted as support for Assad
from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah has reversed opposition gains.
Details on the order emerged after a White House announcement
yesterday that the U.S. would boost military aid, though the
president’s aides refused to say during a briefing with
reporters whether that support included lethal assistance.

“It’s particularly urgent right now in terms of the
situation on the ground, in some respect, because we have seen
Hezbollah and Iran increase their own involvement,” said Ben
Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser. “That has
added an element of urgency.”

The decision to arm the opposition was prompted by rebel
losses rather than by U.S. confirmation, announced yesterday,
that Assad’s forces had used chemical weapons, according to the
official familiar with the move. Whether to provide heavier
weapons is still being debated amid concerns that such material
could fall into terrorist hands, the official said.

‘Candid Assessment’

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters in London
today that he welcomes Obama’s “candid” assessment about
chemical weapons use, while saying Britain had made no decision
to arm the opposition.

“We must work with our allies and friends in the region to
do everything we can to bring this conflict to an end,” Cameron
said.

Syria will be a main topic next week when Obama and other
world leaders gather for the Group of Eight summit in Northern
Ireland. Obama will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin,
who the U.S. has been pressing to end support for Assad. Obama
also may seek a unified plan with European allies for aiding the
rebels. The G-8 is composed of leaders from the U.S., France,
U.K., Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia.

Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters
in Moscow today that the U.S. assertion that Assad used chemical
arms is “unconvincing.” Efforts to convene an international
peace conference on Syria next month may be in jeopardy if Obama
“hardens” the U.S. stance on the conflict and arms the rebels,
he said.

Nerve Gas

During yesterday’s briefing, Rhodes said Assad’s forces had
used the nerve gas sarin on a “small scale” several times,
causing 100 to 150 deaths. Obama repeatedly has said the use of
chemical weapons by Assad’s regime would cross a “red line”
for the U.S.

The president has made a decision that the U.S. will
provide assistance to rebels that has “direct military
purposes” on the ground for the Supreme Military Council, the
main civilian opposition’s military arm, Rhodes said.

Rhodes said the administration has “not made any decision
to pursue” establishing a no-fly zone over Syria.

‘Right Direction’

Former President Bill Clinton, who at a forum earlier this
week pressed Obama to take a more active role to assist rebels,
said in an appearance today on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that “it
looks to me like this thing is trending in the right direction
now” in terms of White House involvement and outreach to
allies.

“About 90,000 people have died there and, of course, there
are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of refugees,” Clinton
said.

The White House now “has made it clear that they intend to
do more” and “right now they don’t want to talk about the
details, and I don’t blame them, because the less they talk
about the details, the more likely their increased assistance is
likely to be effective,” he said.

Andrew Tabler, a Middle East analyst at the Washington
Institute for Near East Policy, said the Obama administration
announcement, because of its vagueness, is “an underwhelming
response unless there’s something more to it.”

White House silence on the question of arming the rebels
may reflect covert aspects or a multilateral plan that is not
ready to be announced, he said.

Overland Shipments

“I just think frankly we’re going to be looking at which
rebels to arm, that we’re approaching the Rubicon, but we
haven’t crossed it,” Tabler said.

The deliveries haven’t begun yet and will be carried out
overland through neighboring Turkey and Jordan, according to the
official. By using the CIA, the official said, the U.S. avoids
having to go through the United Nations Security Council, where
China and Russia have both blocked measures targeting Assad’s
government during the conflict.

The CIA will supply the rebels with arms they already know
how to use, most of which are Soviet- or Russian-made, the
official said.

The head of the rebel’s Supreme Military Command, Major
General Salim Idris, has appealed to the U.S. and others for
weapons, from ammunition to anti-aircraft missiles, to fend off
advances by Assad’s forces and its allies, including Lebanese
militia fighters from Hezbollah, a group that the U.S. and
Israel consider a terrorist organization.

Negotiating Peace

At the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said
only a negotiated peace agreement can end the fighting and that
sending weapons to the rebels or the Assad regime only worsens
the Syrian conflict.

“Providing arms to either side would not address this
current situation,” Ban told reporters in New York. “I have
been urging all the parties concerned that there is no such
military solution.”

Last week, rebels lost the strategically located city of
al-Qusair, giving government forces control of the road that
leads from Damascus to Lebanon. The Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights, based in the U.K., said Syrian forces have shifted their
focus to the city of Homs, a rebel stronghold 30 kilometers (19
miles) northeast of al-Qusair.

Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican who has led
calls in Congress for the U.S. to arm the Syrian rebels, said on
the Senate floor yesterday that Obama had decided to send
weapons only to back away from that assertion in later comments.

“It’s my understanding that the president has not made the
final decision on arming but he has made the decision that
chemical weapons have been used,” McCain said. “I think it’s
obvious that they will be providing weapons. They need a no-fly
zone.”

U.S. Reservations

The Obama administration has previously refrained from
sending arms, in part because of concern that the weapons would
make their way into the hands of Islamic radicals within the
opposition. The U.S. has said it would provide humanitarian aid
to the Syrians and provide the opposition with non-lethal
equipment such as vehicles, communications gear and night-vision
goggles.

At the same time, the administration has pushed a plan to
open negotiations between rebels and the regime about a
negotiated political transition that would have Assad step down.

Senator Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat who has pressed
to use U.S. firepower to create a “safe zone,” said the
administration’s announcement paves the way for the U.S. to arm
rebels. Still, he said, “I don’t have any specific indication
they’re ready to take a step in arming in a robust way.”

‘Very Clear’

From Rhodes’s comments alone, “I don’t think it’s at all
clear” how far Obama is prepared to go, Casey said, urging the
president to give lawmakers more detail.

Casey, who spoke with Idris by phone a day earlier, said of
the opposition leader, “He was very clear: Machine guns and
RPGs can’t complete with air power. He asked specifically in
addition to conventional arms for anti-tank weapons that could
deal with the Russian tanks and also anti-aircraft weapons.”

The public confirmation of Assad’s chemical weapons use
came a day after top U.S. national security officials including
Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and
Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, met at the White House to discuss options for Syria,
according to a U.S. official.

The U.S. has been considering “all options, barring boots
on the ground,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at
a briefing yesterday.

U.S. Options

Those options include weapons, providing intelligence
support such as information on troop movements from satellite
imagery, military training, and U.S. military actions such as
establishing a no-fly zone over all or part of Syria.

In a move to increase support for the rebels, the U.S. on
June 12 waived restrictions on some exports to opposition-held
areas of Syria to help people there survive and rebuild.

The waiver let U.S. companies avoid sanctions for the
export of commodities, software and equipment to opposition-held
territories in farming, food processing, power generation, oil
and gas production, construction, engineering and
transportation.